U.S. Refuses Dutch Help 3 Days After Oil Rig Explosion; Reconsidered 7 Weeks Later

Joe Schoffstall | June 9, 2010
DONATE
Font Size

Three days after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded leaving 11 dead and oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, help was offered from the Dutch. They were willing to provide ships with oil-skimming booms, and gave a plan for building sand barriers for use to keep oil from the marshlands. The Obama administration declined. "The response from the Obama administration and BP, which are coordinating the cleanup: “The embassy got a nice letter from the administration that said, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,'” said Geert Visser, consul general for the Netherlands in Houston", as referenced in the Houston Chronicle. Flash forward to today. BP and the government have now reconsidered as U.S ships are underway with, you guessed it, skimming booms which are being airlifted from the Netherlands. Each pair has the ability to process 5 million gallons of water per day, removing 20,000 tons of oil. Critics of the Obama administration's response to the disaster are saying that he is slow to deal with it as a tool to help pass climate change legislation. After all, Rahm Emanuel did once say, "You should never let a crisis go to waste."

donate